How to play Parachute online
- Choose your starting altitude: F12 (the consoleās Reset switch)
- Jump: hold Space and press F12 together
- Steer the parachute: left and right arrow keys; the manual says pushing down also works, at different speeds
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0ā9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0ā9 loads it
Gameplay
Before each game you pick the height of your jump, such as 15,000 or 10,000 metres; the chosen height is shown at the bottom of the screen. You score 5 points each time you pass another marker on the altitude scale at the left of the screen. Clouds are harmless, but touching any other obstacle on the way down costs you a parachutist. You start with four, and the game ends when all of them are gone.
At the bottom stands a stepped podium. Landing on the widest, lowest step is worth 200 points, the next steps 300 and 400, and the narrow top 1,000. You earn extra parachutists at 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 50,000 points.
Tips
- Use the clouds. Since they cannot hurt you, drift behind them when the gaps between other obstacles are tight.
- Line up early for the landing. The 1,000-point top step is narrow, so be over it well before you reach the ground.
- Higher jumps mean more points. A longer fall passes more altitude markers, but it also means more obstacles to dodge.
About this cartridge
Home Vision was a Belgian label for games manufactured by Taiwanās Gem International; its instruction leaflet gives a Brussels address and lists the game as number 23 in the range. The same game was sold under other names: Skydiver by Suntek, Sky Drive on an unbranded Taiwanese cartridge, and Vom Himmel durch die Hƶlle (āFrom Heaven through Hellā) by the German mail-order company Quelle. Despite the similar names, it is a different game from Atariās own Sky Diver.
